Chocolate Fudge

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I made this recipe three times, and here are my overall results:

Round 1: I was young and foolish, and that coupled with a bad thermometer,
the fudge didn't set firm enough. Lesson: One needs both patience and
a good thermometer.
Round 2: This time, I gave the fudge my full attention, and I was rewarded
with smoothe, creamy deliciousness that didn't last very long at all.
Round 3: It was late, and I had become lazy. I put the saucepan on the granite
countertop to cool, freezing it too hard too fast. The result was difficult
to put into the pan, and powdery when cut into.

Personally, I believe that using a good ol' handmixer will help create a better texture, and it will save your arm from torture. And, parchment paper is excelent to line the pan, because wrestling delicious yet sticky fudge out of a not-greased-enough pan isn't my idea of fun.

The texture mainly depends on your attention to the pan, but the recipe itself is perfect.

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We worked really hard to make this recipe but it crystallized, perhaps because we waited too long to beat it near the end due to our inaccurate thermometer. It is basically inedible. Would maybe try again another time after we get a digital thermometer.

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Thanks AB, this is a great fudge. Since I started making it, I get asked to make it for whatever party I am going to. The end result is that I have been making this 3-4 times a year for the last 4 years. Some notes I have picked up on the way: do not try to make it on a humid day -- even if you go a few degrees higher it never seems to set right; this recipe needs your full attention -- it moves quick at some points and steping away from the fudge while it is on the stove seems to invite disaster; substitute heavy cream for half and half it makes the product richer; line the pan with parchment paper it makes extraction cutting and packing a whole lot easier; once you hit 234 and turn off the burner take out the thermometer and do not touch the pan for at least 10 minutes; only wait 15 minutes to cool and then take a hand mixer with one whisk attached and beat on low until you see rooster tails and the sheen goes dull this takes at least 10 minutes.

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Ok, for some reason people that can make fudge tell everyone else it is easy. Well it's not easy. It takes trial and error! This recipe is fantastic. My suggestion is to half it or quarter it and try it a couple of times so you don't waste a ton of money and ingredients when it doesn't work the first couple of times. Here's what works for me. Heat it up to 234, you can either use a pastry brush dipped in water and run it around the sides to get the crystals off or do the Alton thing and put the lid on. Once it's up to temperature, take it off the heat, leave it uncovered and DON'T TOUCH IT! It takes a LONG time to get down to temperature, I wait until 110. THEN you STIR LIKE THE DICKENS! With a nice wooden spoon stir and stir and stir rapidly but don't go crazy for more than 5 minutes straight. You can rub the sides off while you're stirring but that's what makes the fudge smooth and not grainy. It will get pretty thick at the end of the stirring, that means it's done and ready to pan. Good luck and if at first you don't succeed; try try again!

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First time I messed up, adding all the butter up front, and broke the thermometer.
Second time, followed it meticulously with a new therm. It was hard as rock and granular by the time it cooled to 130.

Thank you to the person who rec'd 2 degrees less for each 1000' elevation. We are in CO, so that might explain the burnt smell in the pan trying to reach 234. Second, took about an hour to cool still in the pot, not 10 minutes. I might try stirring it after about 15 min as one reviewer did. Wondered if there was a typo in the recipe (cool to 230, not 130??. Never had a problem with an AB recipe before. Not once.

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I tried this recipe with a friend a week ago, and we were disappointed with the results. The fudge took forever to set, and it was unpleasantly grainy. However, we had made up our own "half-and-half" with heavy cream and skim milk, and we also didn't have a thermometer, so we thought one of those two things, or both, might have been the issue.

Tonight, I made the fudge again, still using the made up half-and-half. This time, I used a thermometer, and I found that we hadn't waited NEARLY long enough for the fudge to get hot enough, and then we hadn't waited NEARLY long enough for it to cool before stirring and pouring. Tonight, my fudge is still setting, but what was left in the pan was very smooth and not at all grainy like last time.

Definitely get a thermometer to do this recipe! Also, I only cooled it to about 120-130, since I was so impatient.

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I followed the recipe as given on TV, and on my first attempt, it rendered very nice fudge. The next day, I tried it again, and the fudge was even better than before (goes very well with dry roasted macadamia nuts. The next day (today I tried it again, this time without the nuts, and I changed the procedure: I took one of the cups of sugar and put it through the "friendly neighborhood food processor" and made super-fine sugar (as mentioned in the episode "Raising the Bar". Then I kept the fine sugar on the side until all of the regular sugar had dissolved but the chocolate and butter was still melting, I slowly added the fine sugar little bits at a time, then proceeded as normal. The result was phenomenal! It was extremely smooth and velvety. I love this recipe (with the several tweaks as aforementioned.

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This is not the exact same recipe as seen on the TV show. Compare the recipe and the procedure and you will see a few differences. I think this online recipe is a revised and improved recipe from the one on the TV show.

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This was the first time I made fudge. Mine turned out very good but it was a little softer than I expected but that's probably because I didn't get the syrup to the correct temperature (I don't have a thermometer. With a little practice, this is a very easy recipe to master. I plan on trying again soon!

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This was the first time I have ever made a candy, let alone fudge and it turned out great! Just one note, I let the mixture cool down to 115 degrees before I stirred it for the last time. It ended up with a creamy texture and tasted oh so sweet. Easy to make as well. Definitely gonna cook this one again for the holidays.